There has been a continuing need for development of methods of accurately dropping life rafts and other survival materials from an airplane to survivors in the water. In sea rescues, one method has been to drop a pair of life rafts joined by a rope. The survivors may climb into one of the life rafts if it lands near them, or alternatively they may pull themselves toward the life raft (or vice versa) using the rope joining the life rafts, if that rope lands near them. One of the problems of such a rescue apparatus has been to deploy it effectively by air. Problems with accuracy of dropping the rafts, proper spacing of the rafts in the water, the length of the rope tangling during the drop and deployment mechanisms for the rafts from the aircraft have been encountered. In some instances, such life raft systems have been actually pushed from an open window or door of an airplane flying over the survivors. In other instances, packages containing the rafts and survival kits have been held on platforms at the rear of the airplane and the life rafts individually mechanically pushed off the platform at timed intervals.
There is an increasing need for an air deployable survival kit apparatus and method, which can be used for example with long range coastal patrol airplanes, which can be entirely mechanically and electronically deployed. It is inconvenient or impossible to outfit many modern day airplanes with platforms to carry and permit deployment of lift rafts and the like. As well, many modern day airplanes do not have cockpit windows or doors which will open, being pressurized and sealed against outside air during flight. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a reliable air deployable survival kit apparatus and method with accurate delivery. More particularly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which may be deployed for example from the bomb bay of an airplane or from an external mounting underneath the airplane's wings or fuselage.